A Facebook page set up by Reverend Elaine Scrivens of St Chad’s has raised another £1,500 so far.

Housing association L&Q, which is building 450 homes in Gallows Hill, Warwick, also contributed £8,000.

The Rev Elaine Scrivens said she had been overwhelmed by the support.

She said: “We were devasted when this happened. We were in the middle of a service when someone came in and alerted us to the incident, and we discovered that two-thirds of the lead had been removed.

“Later that night, the thieves returned to take the rest of the lead. Our insurance company will only pay £15,000 since we didn’t have an alarm or CCTV on the roof, but the silver lining of this incident has been the wonderful way this has brought the village together.

“L&Q’s donation is particularly generous - we didn’t even have to ask them for help.”

An open gardens day to raise money for the St Chad’s church roof fund will take place at the historic Tachbrook Mallory House in Oakley Wood Road, Bishops Tachbrook, on Sunday (August 25) from 3pm to 5pm.